December 19, 2011

For as long as I can remember my sisters and I would make sugar cookies for the holidays and decorate them with frosting. My mom would always let us use her decorating tips and we would have at least 5 to 6 colors to use on the cookies. This year is the first year I am doing it with my daughter. We made the dough before nap and let it chill while she was sleeping. Then I heard footsteps heading my way with a voice yelling out "we can roll the cookies now!" So off we went to roll out the dough and cut out our Christmas cookie shapes. My younger sister Allison was helping us too and when it came to rolling out the dough Ruby always insisted on having her help, not mama. Once we baked all the cookies we were ready for the frosting. Ruby chose 3 colors: blue, green, and red! I can remember when I was little, for my last cookie I would mix all the colors together and had the cookie piled high with frosting...that was the first one I ate:) It is so special to share this tradition with my daughter now and to see what kind of ideas and creative things she comes up with to make it her own.

Later we played a game of "I Spy" with the ornaments on the Christmas tree. I was very impressed with how fast Ruby found the ornaments! She is one smart girl! To end our little festivities for the day we watched "The Snowman." Such a classic holiday film for children that had Ruby completely sucked in.

I was about to post an update on our lives last week but got so overwhelmed with all that happened! Here is the quick update. We got a house, then it fell through, went to the urgent care and E.R. at Children’s Hospital 3 TIMES within 4 DAYs, participated in toys for tats at Liberty Tattoo in Seattle (our friends shop), and viewed 3 other houses that were all flops. We have been home for the weekend to see the Christmas pageant that Jeremy’s mom put together at church, and then we pack up again to head to my mom’s then my dad’s for the holidays. With all of this craziness going on around us we have managed to continue to take one step at a time and enjoy our time together. I also made sure to bring the advent calendar with us while we were in Seattle so Ruby still had a chance to enjoy the little surprises in each pocket.

Poor sweet girl, She got an outer eye infection that made her eye swollen shut. She was quite the trooper though and had a really good attitude through it all, until it came to all the doctors constantly staring at her eye.

Since there was so much going on Ruby's advent calendar didn't get touch for a few days. Which meant she got to open 3 pockets in one day! She was pretty exited to get the mickey mouse card game and of course the M&M's!

Both Jeremy and I got traditional rose tattoos, except mine was pretty easy to get whereas his was on his neck.

December 2, 2011

The most amazing news traveled through my phone this morning from my hardworking husband...He now has a permanent position at mallet inc. that can comfortably provide for our family! Our time in Yakima has been the most eye opening experience we've had as a family and has definitely reminded us how to completely lean on God and trust Him through the struggles we've gone through. I am so grateful and thankful for my husband. He has made continuous sacrifices to provide for our family. And now we can finally see a bit of light at the end of this tunnel. No more driving two and a half hours to see each other for the weekend...hence the possibility of needing to change my blog name. What do you think? The name does still have meaning because it was the reason why I started this blog. Now as our lives evolve and change, the blog will too, but we will still have the memory of this season in our lives that led me to start blogging. I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas!

We got through half the night with Ruby sleeping in her toddler bed! Yesterday at the grocery store I found a tinker bell night light for her room which helped... I think. Man, what that kid will do for tinkers and princess things.

Anyway, the rush to the advent calendar was not immediate this morning. After breakfast she finally realized that she hadn't looked in a pocket yet. So we went through our routine of finding the date and today she got pez candy to put in her hello kitty dispenser. I love that simple things like one pack of pez can satisfy a two year old. I am sure I could have gotten away with even a picture of pez...well, maybe not. Candy is pretty desirable at that age.

December 1, 2011

Last night while Ruby was at grape juice club at the church, Shepherd and I went to Michael's craft store to buy some trinkets and candy for the advent calendar. I rushed home just in time to fit each little gift in the pockets. As I was filling each one my excitement grew in anticipating for the time when Ruby will get to see it. Growing up we got the individual calendars from the grocery store that where filled with chocolate.

The numbers on them were usually scattered like I did on my calendar. Since Ruby hasn't quite learned her number recognition yet I thought of using number flashcards so she has to match the number I give her to one that is on the calendar! What a way to sneak in some learning while she is receiving gifts!! I also am going to read her a bible verse to her each morning before she opens the pocket so by the 25th of December she might have it memorized.

This morning the first words out of Ruby's mouth were, "lets go see what is in my pocket!" I gave her the number one to look for and it took her a little while to find it, but sure enough she did. In the number one pocket was a candy cane and minnie mouse tattoos. We spent the rest of the morning putting those tattoos all over her:) Tune in tomorrow to see what she gets next!